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The Cuban historian Julio César González Pagés published on his Facebook account a text in which he strongly criticizes a part of the Cuban emigrant community in Spain for accusing those who remain on the island of cowardice.
"The right-wing fundamentalism of a significant portion of the Cuban expatriate community in Spain is noteworthy. Some claim that the suffering we are currently experiencing is due to the lack of courage among those of us living on the island," wrote González Pagés, a renowned Cuban professor and doctor of science.
The historian describes a recurring dynamic: when someone from Cuba expresses an opinion on Spanish politics without praising the conservative parties, they immediately receive the response: "Don't comment on what you do not live, that's why you have no electricity, water, food, and freedom, shut up and stop bothering."
Far from merely pointing out that attitude, González Pagés goes further back and identifies the origin of many of those emigrants.
It states that a significant group of them left Cuba during the Special Period, in the 1990s, because their parents were communist leaders in various state sectors, which allowed them to obtain the Foreign Residency Permit (PRE) and retain their rights on the island, a privilege denied to most Cubans.
Their families, the historian points out, occupied houses that had been confiscated from their original owners, among whom were many Spanish emigrants to Cuba who did not enjoy those advantages.
"With the beginning of the 21st century, they sold, fixed up, and rented these mansions to tourists without any questioning of the expropriation," writes González Pagés.
The text details the privileges of that elite: access to the stands of the Hotel Nacional during the carnival, parties at the Cristino Club during the Film Festival, houses in Varadero in the summer, Lada and Fiat cars, and education at the Lenin and Humboldt pre-university institutions, which are described as centers with better teachers, meals, and facilities than other schools, reserved for "the simple and mortal population."
The most direct indictment appears at the end of the text: "Hundreds of artists, officials, and public figures who are now on the extreme right in Spain have a past of silence and opportunistic defense of the revolution to maintain their small privileges for decades."
The historian, censored by Cubavisión in April 2025 for addressing issues of violence and masculinities, has researched Spanish emigration to Cuba for years, which gives him a unique perspective on the historical ironies he denounces in his publication.
The debate over who has the legitimacy to speak about Cuba—those who remain on the island or those who have emigrated—is recurring in the diaspora, especially in Spain, where the Cuban community has largely aligned itself with right-wing and far-right parties.
González Pagés concluded his publication with a phrase that encapsulates his call for historical memory: "Forgetfulness is prohibited; let us rescue the memory of the elephant."
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